The city today is starting a second wave of pesticide spraying in its war against mosquitoes that are carrying the deadly St. Louis Encephalitis virus.

In deference to people observing Yom Kippur – the holiest day on the Jewish calendar – the spraying schedule was changed late yesterday afternoon to exclude predominantly Jewish neighborhoods until Tuesday.

“When possible, we’re trying to accommodate where we can,” said Jerry Hauer, the director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management.

Through Wednesday, helicopters and trucks will fan out across the city, spraying pesticides in an attempt to eradicate the mosquito population – which Mayor Giuliani estimates is already down 90 percent.

Hauer said that the arrival of Tropical Storm Floyd was both a blessing and a curse in the mosquito skirmish.

“The winds and the hurricane probably will help us for a few days,” Hauer said.

“The concern we’ve got is to making sure we don’t get a sudden upsurge in the population – with all the water that was deposited – and then wind up having mosquitoes depositing larvae in all that water.”

A third and final wave of spraying will occur in about two weeks before the first frost.

“That’s really to prevent the whole thing from returning in the spring,” Giuliani said.

So far, there have been 12 confirmed cases of St. Louis encephalitis, including three fatalities. The virus, which causes flu-like symptoms, inflames the lining of the brain.

Eighty other cases, including one death, are still under investigation.

On his weekly radio show, the mayor attacked “environmental terrorists” who claimed that the spraying of the malathion and anvil pesticides could be harmful.

“You virtually have to drink it in order to have it create the damage they’re talking about,” Giuliani said.